Collaborative Research: Accel-Net: Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Resilience in the Anthropocene (NATURA)

1927468 (Grimm) 1927167 (McPhearson). Cities and urbanized regions worldwide are exposed to extreme weather events and rising seas. They are at risk because their infrastructure often is in disrepair, no longer appropriate for more intense or frequent extreme events, or unable to keep up with rapid urban population growth. Traditional engineered infrastructure, such as stormwater drainage systems or sea walls, is usually designed for only one purpose and seldom can adapt to changing conditions. Solutions that are based on nature-preserving protective ecosystems, incorporating ecological elements or even mimicking nature in built infrastructure, offer flexibility in the face of changing conditions and provide multiple benefits to society, often at relatively low cost. The NATure-based solutions to Urban Resilience in the Anthropocene (NATURA) project links 26 networks to enhance connectivity among the world's scholars and practitioners and improve the prospects for global urban sustainability. NATURA exchanges knowledge, shares data, and enhances communication among research disciplines and across the research-practice divide to advance understanding of how to prepare for the growing threat of extreme weather events. As an important part of this knowledge sharing, learning exchanges will build capacity of the next generation of researchers and practitioners to work together on applications of nature-based solutions in a wide range of social, ecological, and technological contexts.

The NATURA international network of networks brings together research scientists (ecologists, engineers, and social scientists) and city practitioners (such as officials from city, county, or state governments, members of non-governmental organizations, and community leaders) who work on devising and implementing solutions to the challenge of extreme events. NATURA will unite 21 networks focused in Europe, South Africa, China, North and South America, and globally with 5 U.S.-based networks that are conducting research and implementing nature-based solutions. NATURA will advance theory and research on nature-based solutions, identifying and filling research gaps across diverse global social-biophysical contexts to understand where nature-based solutions are unique or can be more generally applied to meet urban resilience challenges. Through all-hands meetings, thematic working groups, regional nodes, and synthesis writing workshops, the project will accomplish the goals of synthesis and data sharing, and network coordination. Early-career researchers and practitioners will be sponsored by NATURA to pay five-week visits to network partners. Further, NATURA will train postdoctoral scholars and graduate students through learning exchanges to networks around the globe. Through collaboration with partners, international students will be invited to participate in these exchanges, hosted by US networks.

The Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet) program is designed to accelerate the process of scientific discovery and prepare the next generation of U.S. researchers for multiteam international collaborations. The AccelNet program supports strategic linkages among U.S. research networks and complementary networks abroad that will leverage research and educational resources to tackle grand scientific challenges that require significant coordinated international efforts. This project was co-funded by the Division of Environmental Biology (BIO/DEB).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Award Number: 2610859
Principal Investigator: Paul McPhearson
Funds Obligated: $49,009
State: NY